Pink shrimp 



Penaeus duorarum 

 Adult 



5 cm 



(from Fischer 1978) 



Common Name: Pink shrimp 

 Scientific Name: Penaeus duorarum 

 Other Common Names 



Brown spotted shrimp; Green shrimp, grooved shrimp, 

 hopper, pink spotted shrimp, pink night shrimp, pushed 

 shrimp, red shrimp, skipper, spotted shrimp (Costello 

 and Allen 1 970, Motoh 1 977, McKenzie 1 981 , Bielsa et 

 al. 1983, Williams 1984); crevette roche du nord 

 (French), camaron rosado norteno (Spanish) (Fischer 

 1978, NOAA 1985). 

 Classification (Williams et al. 1989) 

 Phylum: Arthropoda 

 Class: Crustacea 



Order: Decapoda 



Family: Penaeidae 



Value 



Commercial : Shrimping is the second most valuable 

 commercial fishery in the U.S., and ranks seventh in 

 quantity (NMFS 1993). U.S. landings of all shrimp 

 species combined in the Gulf of Mexico were 100.7 

 thousand mt in 1992, and were valued at $316.6 

 million. Total U.S. pink shrimp harvest in the Gulf of 

 Mexico was 4,785 mt in 1 991 , and pink shrimp typically 

 comprise 8% of the total Gulf of Mexico shrimp land- 

 ings (NOAA 1 993). The pink shrimp is a commercially 

 important species throughout the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 its stocks have historically been considered quite stable 

 compared to those of white and brown shrimp (Nance 

 and Nichols 1 988). However, the Tortugas pink shrimp 

 fishery has had considerable fluctuation in landings 

 and effort since 1986 (Nance 1994, Sheridan 1996, 

 Steele pers. comm.). Most of the commercial catch is 

 taken by otter and roller-frame trawls, but other meth- 

 ods include haul seines, cast, butterfly, drop, push, and 

 channel nets (Costello and Allen 1970, Eldridge and 



Goldstein 1975, Eldridge and Goldstein 1977, Steele 

 pers. comm.). Federal and some state laws may 

 require the use of Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) 

 year-round on shrimp trawls, but bait shrimpers (catch 

 <16 kg/day, trawl <10.7 m) may be exempt from this 

 rule (Nance pers. comm.). The major pink shrimp 

 fishery is in the Tortuga and Sanibel grounds of south- 

 west Florida. In Texas there is also a major fishery, but 

 the pink shrimp is often difficult to distinguish from the 

 brown shrimp, and is usually included with the brown 

 shrimp fishery statistics. The pink shrimp fishery 

 probably does not contribute more than 1 0% of the total 

 catch off Texas (Klima et al. 1982), and catches are 

 minor in Louisiana as well (Christmas and Etzold 

 1977). The pink shrimp helps support an substantial 

 bait shrimp industry that is mainly in western Florida 

 from Tampa Bay north to Apalachee Bay (Christmas 

 and Etzold 1 977). Bait harvests also occur in Biscayne 

 Bay, along the Florida Keys, and along the east coast 

 of Florida (Costello and Allen 1966, Joyce and Eldred 

 1966, Steele pers. comm.). Bait harvest is prohibited 

 in the Everglades National Park portion of Florida Bay 

 (Schmidt pers. comm.). Bait shrimpers in Alabama and 

 south Texas also utilize this species, but catches are 

 small compared to those of brown and white shrimp 

 (Swingle 1972, Sheridan pers. comm.). 



Recreational : Recreational shrimping has become in- 

 creasingly popular along the Gulf coast in recent years 

 (Christmas and Etzold 1977). Fishermen use small 

 trawls for the most part, but seines, dip-nets, cast nets, 

 and push nets are used as well (Christmas and Etzold 

 1977, Killam et al. 1992). Regulations pertaining to 

 licensing and gear type vary among the Gulf states, 

 and catches are limited by location and season of 

 fishing (GMFMC 1 981 ). In Tampa Bay, fishing effort is 



64 



